WEEKENDER GUIDE

By Tim Page

Published: April 17, 1987

Friday HAYDN EASTER WORK Haydn's ''Seven Last Words of Christ'' is a series of solemn musical meditations that the composer wrote for a Good Friday observance. It was originally scored for instrumental ensemble and later arranged variously for string quartet and piano, string quartet and soloists, and orchestra with chorus and vocal soloists. At Carnegie Hall tonight at 8, the Juilliard Quartet and a vocal ensemble made up of Benita Valente, Jan DeGaetani, Jerry Hadley and Thomas Paul will perform the ''Seven Last Words.'' Tickets are $9 to $15. Information: 247-7800. BRITISH COMEDY ''Milestones,'' a British comedy of manners by Arnold Bennett and Edward Knoblock, was first staged almost 75 years ago in London and arrived on Broadway shortly thereafter. The story of three generations over half a century, it chronicles changing manners and morals, young firebrands growing into old conservatives, the Victorian era gradually giving way to Edwardian sophistication. Now the Meat and Potatoes Company has revived ''Milestones'' at the Alvina Krause Theater, 306 West 38th Street, and will present it tonight and tomorrow night at 8 and Sunday afternoon at 3 P.M. The production is directed by Neal Weaver. Admission is $10; information: 564-3293. JACKIE ROBINSON Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier 40 years ago when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers and became the first black to play major-league baseball in America. Today the New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West (between 76th and 77th Streets), will unveil an exhibition called ''Jackie Robinson: An American Journey,'' devoted to Mr. Robinson's life and career. The society is open from 10 A.M. to 5 P.M. today and tomorrow and from 1 to 5 P.M. on Sunday. Admission is $2 for adults; $1.50 for the elderly and $1 for children under 12. ''Jackie Robinson: An American Journey'' will run through July 15. Information: 873-3400. SATURDAY WRITER ON CANVAS Meyer Schapiro has been one of the century's most distinguished art historians, teaching and writing prolifically over the past 60 years. All the while, unbeknownst to most of his students and the public, Mr. Schapiro has been creating artworks of his own. Now Columbia University, where Mr. Schapiro spent his academic career, will present an exhibition of his paintings, drawings, prints and sculpture, beginning Saturday and continuing through May 23, in the Wallach Art Gallery on the eighth floor of Schermerhorn Hall, at 118th Street on the Columbia campus. Hours are Tuesday to Saturday, 1-5 P.M. Admission is free; information: 280-0513 or 280-4505. FELD BALLET ON L.I. The Feld Ballet, which recently presented several programs at the Joyce Theater in Chelsea, will spend Saturday evening on Long Island, presenting several original works by Eliot Feld at the Tilles Center of Long Island University, in Greenvale. The program will include ''Medium: Rare,'' ''Adieu,'' ''The Jig Is Up'' and ''Harbinger,'' the last with music by Prokofiev. The program starts at 8:30 P.M. Admission is $15 and $17.50; for information and directions: (516) 922-0061. SPOLETO IN BROOKLYN The Spoleto Festival, with branches in Italy, South Carolina and Australia, will pay a visit to Brooklyn Saturday night at the Helen Owen Carey Playhouse in the Brooklyn Academy of Music, 30 Lafayette Avenue, at Ashland Place. The program, entitled ''Spoleto Comes to BAM,'' will feature works by Bach, Handel, Telemann, Vivaldi, Couperin and Stravinsky played by Ani Kavafian, violinist, Paula Robison, flutist, and Kenneth Cooper, keyboardist, among others. The concert starts at 8. Admission is $7.50 and $10; information: (718) 636-4100. SUNDAY BIG APPLE TOUR The Big Apple Circus sets up its tent at Lincoln Center every fall. But the larger Big Apple is more than just Manhattan, and this weekend the circus will begin its annual tour of the other four boroughs. At 12:30 and 4 P.M. Sunday, the Big Apple Circus, under the direction of Paul Binder, will offer its customary blend of thrills and chills at Prospect Park in Brooklyn, right next to Wollman Rink. Come watch the Flying Gaonas, the Woodcock Elephants and Vanessa Prater, billed as the ''Hula-Hoop artiste extraordinaire.'' Admission is $8 to $15. Information: 391-0760.